Dammit, Oscar, what's in the water down there?!?December 4 2000 at 2:26 PM

Kawama

Sunday, December 3, 2000

Man arrested for dismembering colleague

Mainichi Shimbun

NAKATSU, Oita -- A jobless man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murdering a former colleague whose dismembered body had been found on a mountain in Oita Prefecture, police said.

Satoru Omura, 51, strangled housewife Motoko Takajo, 48, at her home in Nakatsu on the morning of Nov. 20, police said. He then severed her head and both arms with a sharp knife, transported the victim's body to a mountain in the Kagetsu district of Hita and dumped it there.

Omura turned himself in to Nakatsu Police Station last Tuesday, after swallowing insecticide in a failed suicide bid. He confessed to investigators that he had murdered Takajo after quarreling with her and dumped her body on a mountain.

He collapsed during questioning and received treatment at a hospital. Police placed him under arrest after he had partially recovered from the poisoning. Authorities are also seeking a well-known Oita area playboy, reportedly known as 'Oscar' by a number of ladies in the area, on suspicion of having been at least partially responsible for setting off this lurid chain of events. Love letters addressed to Ms. Takajo, and signed by 'Oscar' were found in Mr. Omura's garbage following a police search.